1. Establish a national Advisory Board made up of educational leaders from across Canadaincluding both Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders, Francophone and Anglophone leaders, innovative educators, design thinkers, specialists in using technology for learning, etc.

2. Identify provincial and territorial representatives to co-ordinate the promotion of the project within each province and territory.

3. Seek assistance and leadership from Indigenous communities to help teachers work with students dealing with cultural stereotypes, particularly in learning from, about, and with First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people of Canada.

9. Conduct a pilot project with select students and teachers from all 13 provinces and territories who will help to co-create and test a system of interactive cross-Canada connections and activities to ensure they will be both engaging and effective for their peers.

Pilot project classes will be paired with similar-aged students who are growing up in very different locations in Canada, and wherever possibly, matching Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. (Class matching will not be offered in the actual project.)

Each group in the pilot project will be asked to

create and post their digital content introducing their home area; this will remain online for the entire project

communicate with their partner class at greater length and depth

explore age-appropriate activities to examine cultural stereotypes and provide personal experiences as a basis for building positive intercultural relationships

11. Promote the project across Canada, including promotions through school boards, teacher federations, education organizations, local media and events, and social media networks across Canada.

12. Register Project Participants

January 2017 – December 2017

13. Open website: participating students create and post digital artifacts to honour and introduce the land and the people of their home communities. All content must be original student content and meet digital safety requirements.

14. Students access artifacts to learn about the diversity of our communities across Canada.

“A Kids’ Guide to Canada – By Kids and For Kids” is a national project which aims to provide elementary students in every part of Canada and in all educational settings with an exciting opportunity to contribute to Canada’s celebrations of our 150th birthday in a lasting and meaningful way. It will invite students from JK-8 to connect with their peers across this vast physical and multicultural landscape, and to collaborate and create an online interactive Kids’ Guide to Canada which is truly made by kids and for kids.

To honour student voice, an initial pilot project in the fall of 2016 will see elementary students from every elementary grade and every part of Canada participating in each step of the project design and field-testing process.

Then, beginning in January 2017, school-aged children from JK-Gr 8 will create digital artifacts to celebrate and introduce their home communities to their peers right across the country, and then post these on a national interactive map.

From a simple photograph to a complex mystery panoramic tour, students will be invited to honour and share anything of interest to them within their local school area – from their favourite hangouts, local landscapes and resources, common forms of employment, and famous historic sites – to favourite family activities, local cultural and sporting events, and community leaders with wisdom to share. The content will range as far and wide as our students’ imaginations and willingness to share. Digital citizenship and safety for students will be embedded throughout, while online resources will be provided for teachers wanting additional support in learning new skills in the world of connected education.

While this digital content will be visible to the public,behind the scenes, classes participating in the project will be encouraged to connect with other classes in order to pursue conversations and collaborative activities to deepen their learning together.

Which leads to the heart of this project. The project includes a special focus on connecting Indigenous and non-Indigenous students across Canada, especially those living in our more remote, marginalized, and northern communities. It seeks to help our very youngest Canadian citizens to create positive personal relationships with their peers based on mutual interculturalunderstanding, respect, support, and collaboration.

The world is changed one person and one relationship at a time. This project aims to help our youngest Canadians do just that.

GOALS

To provide an authentic and meaningful way for the children of Canada to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday – to use the occasion of Canada’s 150th birthday to provide all elementary school-aged children with an exciting reason to learn about, celebrate, and share their home communities with the rest of Canada, focusing on the theme of Canada’s 150th celebrations: “Strong, Proud, and Free.”

To provide an opportunity for Elementary students to discover and use their voice – to truly collaborate in every step of the project’s creative process, and to help produce an interactive guide to Canada which is made by children and for children.

To connect elementary students of all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds – with a special focus on valuing and connecting Indigenous and non-Indigenous students with each other and their counterparts in the many diverse communities across Canada. [see TRC Call to Action 85 ii ]

To foster a culture of mutual understanding, empathy, respect, and collaboration amongst Canada’s youngest citizens – to help school children meet and create personal relationships with their peers across Canada, in order to help dismantle our limiting and out-dated Canadian cultural stereotypes. [TRC Call to Action 63 iii ]

To support teachers across Canada implementing new pedagogies for connected learning, and developing the new cultural competencies needed for teaching in a global classroom effectively, especially as these relate to helping our students learn about, from, and with their diverse Inuit, First Nations, Metis, Francophone, Anglophone, and New Canadian peers.

Well, we finally received official word last week from the Canada150 folks.

The project Ron Canuel and I submitted last May through the Canadian Education Association aimed at helping all the elementary school-aged children of Canada celebrate our 150th birthday next year in a meaningful way — with a special focus on connecting our Indigenous and non-Indigenous kids with each other — was not selected as a national “Signature Initiative.”

So I’ve been really struggling the last few weeks over whether to try to pursue the whole idea relying on the leadership and help of teachers across Canada, or whether to just let it all go and let it die…

But I just can’t do it. The project’s received too much positive response and support from educators and non-educators alike all year long!

So knowing I have nothing else on my plate right now, and I’ll still be able to afford to eat (this was never about getting money), and hearing that the Canada150 folks don’t know of any other national education projects right now, or any connecting kids across Canada to celebrate together, nor any specifically connecting Indigenous and non-Indigenous kids… For better or worse, I guess this is what I have to offer right now. And this is what I can offer right now. So I guess this is mine to do right now. I know my fellow teachers get it, and that they’ll help to make it happen for as many kids as we possible can.

“I can. I will. End of story.”

So stay tuned. With the help of a whole lot of passionate teachers from every corner of Canada, “A Kids’ Guide to Canada – By Kids and For Kids” — here we come!